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Trying to save this triostar… I got it from a dollar store for $5 and… | Pests, diseases and problems | Planta community

juju

Trying to save this triostar… I got it from a dollar store for $5 and it was so unhappy. It had many leaves but all of them half brown and crispy and all the leaves had hard water stains on top. I made the mistake of repotting it right away, but I did it anyway because I did not trust whatever was in that dollar store soil 😅 After a couple of weeks of settling in the new pot I cut down all the brown leaves and browned new growths. So sad, but even some new growths that looked kind of ok on the outside, were brown inside… maybe rot?? Not sure yet… I left the ONE leaf and the one new growth that looked good… This was around a month ago, still no signs of it getting better, but also no signs of it getting worse… other than that one leaf looking a bit droopy… If that one leaf dies, is there anything else I could do to save this plant? Would it regrow from nothing? I am not sure what to do next, just keep an eye on it? Ps: I used a soil mix with good drainage, I am using only filtered water, and I added some coco coir on top of the soil which I mist regularly to keep the moisture up + the pebble tray under the pot (my apartment is pretty dry now that the heaters are on). I appreciate any tips :))

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4 comments

  1. Plant Father

    stromanthe and other prayer plants are very sensitive to chlorine and excess minerals in the tap. rain water is ideal but you can filter and treat your tap water with aquarium water conditioner to remove most of the irritants. just filtering chlorinated tap water usually leaves some amount of chlorine in the water. do you have a humidifier running? spraying the leaves and soil regularly isn’t going to do much for the local humidity, neither will a pebble tray. misting regularly can actually cause fungal infections, and spraying the soil routinely is also very likely to cause root rot since you are preventing the soil from drying out at all

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    • juju

      Omg I am doing it all wrong then haha. I do have a humidifier but I had to stop turning it on regularly because of the cold outside the air was condensing on the windows and creating mildew on the corners and I am paranoid of black mold so I cant make the inside too humid while is so cold out… :( ughh so complicated. I thought at least the pebble tray would help since so many people do it… I will at least try changing the regular filtered water for distilled and rain water when available, this I can do right away :) thank you!

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    • Plant Father

      a cloche or small greenhouse might be the solution for humidity-loving plants for you. the ikea akerbar greenhouse is very popular right now for good reason

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  2. PlantLady

    I’ve put a plastic nursery pot over another plant to create a humidity dome when my plant lost 95% of its roots due to clay like soil, and it helped the plant not lose so much water to the environment. Kinda janky looking, but a cheap and effective way to increase humidity

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